Higher education is the key to making net zero a reality

The built environment is the single largest generator of CO2 emissions in the world.

A quarter of all the UK’s emissions come from the construction and operation of buildings. We produce a third of the world’s waste, extract 50% of our planet’s raw materials, and are responsible for 40% of all global energy consumption.

The consequences of this activity can no longer be ignored. In 2024, the planet surpassed the global 1.5C threshold above pre-industrial temperature levels set by the Paris Agreement – a limit put in place to prevent the most severe impacts of climate change.

If we can’t address our impact on the environment:

• Rising global temperatures will bring more extreme and more frequent floods, drought, famine and heat waves
• Sea levels will continue to rise, threatening communities and ecosystems and displacing populations
• Contaminated water and polluted air will increase the spread of disease and illness
• Our already struggling health services across the world will be put under more strain than ever before, with the costs of healthcare skyrocketing

These consequences will place hundreds of millions of lives at risk and significantly reduce the quality of life for everyone on the planet.

The enormous challenge facing the built environment

Our sector is working hard to address its contribution to global warming, but progress isn’t happening fast enough.

Population growth has exacerbated the global housing crisis: to meet the UN’s goal of universal housing access by 2030, we will need to build at least 600 million dwellings globally – that’s almost 350,000 per day, a number the UK isn’t been able to achieve in an entire year.

The skills and talent to deliver this infrastructure simply don’t exist. By 2031, around 41% of the construction workforce is expected to have retired. In the next two years, it’s estimated that we will need an additional 225,000 workers in the UK alone to reach our targets. By 2032, this will rise to 937,000.

There also isn’t enough talent with the appropriate knowledge to facilitate this development sustainably. 400,000 green roles are needed just in the energy sector in the UK. In the built environment, one survey of professionals found that the overwhelming majority (88%) believe the sector is ‘desperately short’ on skilled sustainability talent.

However, demand for infrastructure is showing no signs of slowing down. To facilitate the enormous growth of ChatGPT, Microsoft has been opening a data centre every three days, creating an enormous amount of carbon emissions from concrete production in the process. The UK government also announced plans to build 1.7 million homes by the end of 2030, with little insight into how this will be achieved sustainably.

The truth is that the built environment already has many of the processes, practices and technologies it needs to address its contribution to the climate crisis. What we lack are the skills and understanding needed to bring these innovations into practice, influence policy at a governmental level and consider the impact on the environment in every decision we make throughout development.

These skills can only come from one place: talent.

Unless more skilled professionals can be attracted to the sector to bring about this change, we’ll be at the mercy of climate change and its consequences – consequences that are already here as we speak.

The role of higher education

The higher education sector must play a key role in the push to net zero. By working closely alongside employers, professional bodies and governments, education providers can successfully attract and develop the next generation of built environment professionals that prioritise sustainability in their actions.

The University of the Built Environment is one such education provider. First established in 1919 under the name the College of Estate Management (CEM), the institution was granted Royal Charter by King George V in 1922 and remains the sole specialist provider for higher education in the built environment in the UK.

Over its history, the University of the Built Environment has provided programmes for thousands across the sector in everything from construction and real estate to quantity surveying, building control and architectural design technology.

A fully online institution, the University of the Built Environment delivers flexible learning on an international scale to students from a diverse range of backgrounds. At any one time, the university has 4,000 students from over 100 countries, studying on programmes accredited by professional bodies like the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB).

The University also works closely with employers to provide degree apprenticeships. Rated one of the top 50 apprenticeship providers in the country, we are the largest provider of Chartered Surveyor apprenticeships, and have worked with both global firms like JLL and AECOM and small businesses hiring their first apprentices.

Changing the conversation on built environment sustainability

2023 saw the launch of the MSc Innovation in Sustainable Built Environments: a response to the complex challenges facing the built environment. This was later joined by the Level 7 Sustainability Business Specialist Apprenticeship, the only apprenticeship standard of its kind focused on sustainability in the built environment.

In 2024, a sustainability module was added to each of the institution’s BSc (Hons) programmes. This reflects our belief that sustainability is a core thread through every discipline in the built environment and that all members of the UCEM community have the chance to make a difference to sustainability.

Our vision is to become the centre of excellence for built environment education. By delivering flexible, accredited education with an emphasis on sustainability, we believe we can play a crucial role in delivering the sector the next generation of skilled built environment professionals.